Kingsfall Come Together - Printable Version

It had taken them longer to get here than he would have liked, much longer. As if to punish him for his tardiness, underlining the truth that nature would do whatever it pleased, snow had been falling continuously through the last weeks, blanketing the bleak autumn world in winter white. Normally easy, clear routes became impassable, landmarks masked and with every day, the Oak Tree Bend leader doubted his decision more and more. Perhaps it would have been better to postpone the trip to spring, not risking braving the snows. But the Avalon had longed to get this done, for many, selfish reasons. True, with another alliance under its belt, Oak Tree Bend would become even stronger, but it was not something they acutely needed. Regardless, with Kisla at the helm of Hearthwood River, it seemed pretty certain that the packs would be allies, and even without an official meeting, Drestig doubted that the Ben would have been turned down if asking for assistance.

No, his reasoning for pushing this trip were selfish! He wanted an excuse to get away from the pack lands for a little bit, reliving the joy of exploring; He wanted to prove himself, to do something that would make a lasting impact on the pack and confirm his abilities as a leader, especially now that Triell was back home; And he wanted to do this for Serach, still feeling bad over dropping the ball at the pack meeting and leaving the young man to feel ignored and unimportant. All of this was the real motivation for the dark alpha to round up his selected pack mates and set off northward. With Serach's guidance, they headed towards the place where Kisla and her mate had reestablished their pack, trekking through the snow at a maddeningly slow pace. But at last they made it.

The forest known as Kingsfall was a truly marvelous home, trees taller than Drestig had ever seen stretching skyward, seeming to disappear in the pale grey clouds above. The underbrush was sparse, mostly grassy, though powdered in snow, which had no problem making its way down between the wide, well-spaced trunks. It was no surprise that a pack would have chosen to claim this territory, many tracks in the fresh snow leaving promise of bountiful prey, and the distant rush of water tending to a plentiful supply, that might run all year round without ever freezing fully; A great land indeed... As the scent of foreign wolf hit the Oaken leader's nose, he halted his party, making sure not to cross the carefully marked border. Then his neck craned backwards as he let out a powerful howl, politely asking for the presence of the River leaders. Then he looked between his travel companions, a tired but satisfied expression on his face. He smiled at Jessie by his side, nodded at Fenru and then looked to Serach, tipping his muzzle encouragingly; "You should howl too, let her know you are here... And who you've brought."

Word count: 501

Thoughts ”Speech”

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At first, when Drestig had approached her about a Scouting trip, Jessie had been hesitant. Her daily visits to her lost love’s grave would have to cease for a few weeks and she hadn’t been sure how she would deal with that. However, when the Bend’s newly named King mentioned that there would be quite a few others going along, she found that she couldn’t refuse. It would look bad if the long-named Scout refused to head a mission just because of her dead lover. While Jessie was sure it wouldn’t look like that completely, it mattered that Drestig would have known and it would once again make her look pathetic. Even though she was eager to get on with the trip, she found that it was hard to agree on the time that they had left. As their journey continued, the first snow began to fall. Jessie had a sick feeling of déjà vu as the members continued to trek through the nauseating familiar territories. With Fenru by her side, the feeling on intensified.

Throughout most of the journey, the small grey woman stuck close to Drestig’s side, find that his presence made her feel more safe and stable. She wasn’t one for idle chitchat when it came to business, so the grey Scout found herself settling into a comfortable rhythm. Jessie made sure to make herself aware of what was going on around her and found that she could let her guard down more with the three others that were accompanying her. It made the job easier but slightly less risky. The snow, however, once again heightened the risk and Jessie felt a familiar rush of excitement fill her.

Before she knew it, they had arrived and Drestig was politely calling for the presence of the alphas. Not so long ago, their positions were reversed. The Tainn shifted awkwardly at the thought. She looked eyes briefly with Drestig and in return to his smile the right side of her lip twitched up into a half smile before relaxing back into her business-like mask she had long perfected. He then addressed Fenru and Serach and Jessie all of a sudden felt very much left out. Truly, why had Drestig wanted her to come on this trip? While Kisla had been in the pack once before, Jessie had never truly become close to her. Drestig was obviously here for political matters. All the pepper-and-salt colored scout felt like she was there for, was to observe. So with that thought, Jessie took a hesitant step back, allowing the two brothers and Drestig to take the lead on this one. If Drestig needed her input, he would ask. Jessie was content to simply listen to the family business and make a note of it for later.

j'irais jusqu'au bout du monde

Fenru had done this once before and doing it again was almost out of the question; however, granted that he was going to represent his pack and family once more was a duty he was more than happy to undertake. The (slow) realization that they were headed to see Kisla, now a leading lady of her own family and pack, was more than enough to make the proposal even more worth it all. The anticipation crept down into his bones as they traveled northward, the feeling not getting to him until they had finally reached the borderline. He had been quiet throughout their journey, looking wordlessly after Jessie as he had in their trek before and keeping an eye on Serach when either of them took up the tail end of their traveling party. For most of the while, he stuck to the Leader's freshly made tracks which were made even more traversable by Jessie's and Serach's trails.

It made him smile to think that the woodlands here reminded him vaguely of Hidden Tree. For the most part, though, it reminded him of his home, the one he had left behind where Arlette and their children were tucked safely away from the dangers and temptations of Relic Lore. He had been staring up into the crooked boughs of an ancient redwood giant when Drestig, his new foreman, had spoken to the younger Aesir. "You should howl too, let her know you are here... And who you've brought." The Donata smiled, ready to encourage his brother should he look back in question. A near-subtle move of shuffling himself backward signaled to the group that they had precedence.

Once they announcement had been made, he merely waited. Another step back and he stood somewhere at Jessie's side, his shoulder lining up at her flank despite the distance between them as they waited for his sister or the wolves of Hearthwood River to appear. His ears perked up as the forest came back to life, after having paused to allow the wolves their song. Foolishly, he wondered if she would recognize him. The pointed mask upon his face had not yet come to fade and his eyes still kindled the fire he had in his late yearling months and early adulthood. The only thing he supposed that was different was the fact that he had mellowed out (something Hallen, Arélie, and Indi had done over the past year). Kisla's brother had arrived, but he was not the lost boy his sister (or even Jessie) probably remembered.

fenru donata